Rulid Village

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Selka Zuberg

Voiced by: Maeda Kaori (Japanese), Jackie Lastra (English)

Alice's younger sister.

Always Second Best: She has accepted that she'll always be overshadowed by her sister Alice and will never have the same mastery of the Sacred Arts.

Big Sister Worship: It's apparent she looked up to Alice and misses her sister when she got taken. Upon hearing where Alice had gone all those years ago, she attempts to follow Alice's footsteps so she could be a little more closer to her.

Human Popsicle: Kirito mentioned in the epilogue of Alicization that Selka went into suspended animation at the Central Cathedral in hopes of reuniting with Alice in the future.

The Medic: She knows Healing Spell Sacred Arts much like Alice. To save the life of Eugeo, she uses a dangerous high-level Sacred Art that transfers life force from Kirito and herself to heal Eugeo's wound.

Nice Girl: She looks after Kirito during his stay in the church, even waking him up on the first day.

Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: Thinks she'll never get married, because she's in love with someone who can never return that love. Still, she has descendants in the epilogue, so it looks like she gets over it.

Sempai/Kohai: The Kohai to Eugeo, being his valet during his time as an Elite Swordsman-in-Training.

Shipper on Deck: In the Moon Cradle arc, she suggested Ronye to hook up with Kirito, since Polyamory is encouraged in UW thanks to his current position as their human spokesman and Alice's departure to the RW leaves an open spot for the "last wife".note The other three were Asuna (obviously), Solterina, and a lady general of the Human Empire Army.

Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: She is in love with Eugeo, and hopes that he'll become a noble so that she can marry him, as opposed to ending up with a husband like Raios or Humbert. Eugeo can't do what she wants, since his goal is to find Alice, so he lies to her and tentatively promises to see her again. Unfortunately, Tiese becomes devastated over Eugeo dying at the end of Volume 14 but similar to Ronye though, she grows out of it in the epilogue.

Dirty Coward: For all their arrogance, they're hesitant to overtly do anything to Eugeo and Kirito, and fall to pieces when they're actually injured.

Hate Sink: They're presented as downright unlikable and only seeking to make the lives of Kirito and Eugeo miserable. They only get worse when they attempt to rape Teise and Ronye in front of Eugeo's eyes, while he helplessly watches.

Hypocrite: Raios shows Humbert little sympathy when Humbert loses an arm to Eugeo, but when Raiosloses both his hands, he demands that Humbert tie his arms with the rope that's tying Humbert's own arm and preventing him from bleeding to death. Granted, Raios does realize that he'd be asking Humbert to give his life for him, which is why he shuts down.

Jerkass: The two view most others with contempt, and while they appear to be friends, Raios doesn't seem to care much for Humbert after the latter loses an arm.

Karmic Death: Raios and Humbert abuse loopholes in the Taboo Index to get away with misdeeds while making it illegal for others to stop them. Their attempt to use the law to rape two girls ends with Raios's hands being cut off, and the only way for him to save himself is to order Humbert to untie the rope on his severed arm stump, which would kill the latter and violate the Taboo Index. Raios ends up trapped in a Morton's Fork by the laws he always used to justify his evil, causing his Fluctlight to collapse.

Kick the Dog: They have many such moments, particularly Raios destroying Kirito's flowers and Humbert taking out his anger on Frenica.

Logic Bomb: Since he has to choose between preserving his own life and not harming Humbert, Raios' Fluctlight collapses and he dies, in spite of having some life left.

Loophole Abuse: The two are quite skilled at managing to cause harm to others while not violating the Taboo Index. While most people realize that Raios cutting off the buds of the flowers Kirito planted would be an attack against him, because Kirito doesn't own the plants while they're in the soil (although the soil does belong to the academy), Raios is able to get away with it.

Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: Their interference prevents Eugeo and Kirito from graduating from the academy, thus derailing their original plan to find Alice, only for them to find Alice anyway when she (as an Integrity Knight) comes to take them from the academy. It also prevents Eugeo and Kirito from being mind-wiped into Integrity Knights, something they only realize after all is said and done.

Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Some of Raios' insults toward Kirito are disguised as backhanded compliments, and Raios once gives Kirito a "gift" of a bud from his destroyed garden.

Villainous Friendship: Played with. They seem to enjoy each other's company and have a good partnership, but when Humbert loses his arm, Raios more or less tells him to suck it up... before losing both his hands and demanding that Humbert endanger his own life to help Raios.

Berserk Button: Don't even think about calling him a lump of meat if you don't want your head torn off.

Be the Ball: His primary form of transport is to curl into a ball and bounce about the place.

Beware the Silly Ones: He looks like a clown and seems relatively silly, but in reality, he's a sadistic individual who's highly skilled with Sacred Arts, and so should not be underestimated.

Disproportionate Retribution: He threatens to turn Eugeo into a horse the next time he fails to address Chudelkin with the "Kakka" honorific (roughly equivalent to "Your Excellency") after his "Prime Senator" title.

Glass Cannon: He is capable of immensely powerful Sacred Arts, but he goes down very easily if he takes damage himself.

Gonk: He's a short, pudgy man with heavy makeup who doesn't look much like anyone on the Integrity Knights' side.

Hate Sink: Aside from the fact he's an evil Monster Clown, he's also smarmy, manipulative, and betrays his own allies without a second thought after coming on someone more useful. In stark contrast to Quinella who is seductively Faux Affably Evil, he's downright abusive and condescending to the Integrity Knights and outright calls them puppets to do his bidding. He also reveals he's just as sickly perverted as any of the other SAO villains before him (if not worse), lusting for Quinella and requesting he spend a night with access to her body if he were to dispose of the rebels.

Jerkass: He's a thoroughly unpleasant person. Even though he and Bercouli are on the same side, Bercouli doesn't care for him, and the feeling's mutual.

Kick the Dog: He gleefully recounts how poorly Alice was treated, and how she despaired once her hopes of being able to return home were dashed before she ended up becoming an Integrity Knight, particularly how she begged not to forget the people who were most important to her.

Kill It with Fire: His most powerful Sacred Art involves summoning a gigantic fire genie.

Manchild: Is incredibly childish, being prone to throwing tantrums, giggles at the silliest of things, dresses like a clown, and his quarters is a brightly colored room full of toys like a child's bedroom.

Manipulative Bastard: Manipulated the Integrity Knights into fighting Kirito and Eugeo by putting them under the belief that they were invaders from Dark Territory.

Monster Clown: He's not strictly a clown, but he does give off these vibes, and unlike the Integrity Knights he's unconditionally evil.

Not Quite Dead: It looked as though he had already met his end at the hands of Kirito, with Quinella even casting his lifeless body aside. But we later see he wasn't quite finished yet, and he uses presumably the last of his Durability to launch himself at Quinella's body to finally touch and be with her, much to her horror, whereby he burns the both of them out.

Non-Standard Character Design: Everything about him, all the way down to his clashing colors and the 8-bit sound effects, looks nothing like a Sword Art Online character and more like he belongs in a completely different franchise.

Squishy Wizard: He's not much of a fighter, but he's incredibly skilled with Sacred Arts.

Taking You with Me: He hugs Quinella while he's on fire, immolating her before she can escape to the real world via a console.

You Have Failed Me: He plans on reprocessing the Integrity Knights, or at least Bercouli and Fanatio, after seeing Bercouli fail to defeat Eugeo.

Integrity Knights

A Day in the Limelight: Much of Volume 16 is narrated from the POV of various Integrity Knights, since they're the ones fighting back against the Dark Territory.

Hero Antagonist: Integrity Knights are not inherently evil, they believe they are fighting for what is right. They also genuinely believe Kirito and Eugeo to be criminals who wish to destroy everything they stand for, which is technically not wrong. It is for this reason Kirito is so reluctant to kill any of them and always shows mercy upon beating one of them.

Knight in Shining Armor: All of them are genuine knights clad in armor. They seek to protect the people of the Human World as a knightly duty. It is Administrator who orders them to do evil acts.

Loss of Identity: Integrity Knights are created through the Synthesis process whereby the memories of their past lives are removed and they are led to believe the Administrator summoned them from the heavens.

Nice Guy: He is extremely polite and civil to Eugeo in their duel, engaging in casual conversation at first, giving him adequate warning and explaining how his attacks work, and also being an Apologetic Attacker.

Pet the Dog: He told Kirito to take care of Alice before being frozen again. Fortunately, he's finally freed from the ice after Quinella is killed off.

Determinator: Fanatio would not back down in fight, even if she's about to be frozen by Eugeo's Blue Rose Sword or suffering from serious injuries.

Foil: To Alice. Both are female Integrity Knights, but while Fanatio initially attempts to hide the fact that she is a woman, Alice does not. Because of this disagreement, Alice has trouble getting along with Fanatio.

Hidden Depths: She learns consecutive hit techniques to conceal her true gender before other people would find out about it.

Ignored Enamored Underling: Alice believes that the Four Whirling Blades are this to her, since Fanatio must have some idea of their devotion to her, but refuses to even let them see her face. This is part of the reason why Alice dislikes Fanatio.

Lady of War: While not obvious at first, Fanatio becomes increasingly feminine in later fights.

Light 'em Up: Her sword, a Divine Object created from mirrors, possesses the ability to reflect light.

Samus Is a Girl: She's fully armored in her introduction until Kirito breaks her helmet.

She Is the King: In the Crunchyroll subtitles, Alice calls her "Sir Fanatio," despite it later being made clear that Alice has known Fanatio's gender for some time.

But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Eugeo expresses his outrage that Deusolbert would talk about honor after arresting Alice, Deusolbert claims that he doesn't remember doing so. Justified when Kirito points out that Deusolbert's memory of the action was removed.

Face Death with Dignity: After his defeat, he calmly waits for Eugeo to strike him down. He even requests a killing blow because otherwise he would be sealed away for his failure, which would be a Fate Worse than Death. Euego decides death is too good for him and spares him.

Faux Affably Evil: He communicates in a calm and affable tone, but at the same time has no problem addressing both Kirito and Eugeo condescendingly. He mellows out somewhat after his defeat at Eugeo's hands.

Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He finds it preposterous that he would arrest a child. Even if, in some extraordinary case, he definitely wouldn't chain one to his dragon and fly off with them dangling, as Eugeo insists he did. It turns out that his memory of that event was wiped from his mind.

Sheyta

Sheyta (Synthesis Twelve)

A silent Integrity Knight introduced in Volume 16

Blood Knight: Her love of cutting is so great that she thought about cutting the Central Cathedral, which is made of the hardest material in the world.

Master Swordswoman: All of the Integrity Knights are skilled with the sword, but she's able to cut through the skin of the Dark Territory pugilists, who trained their bodies specifically to resist blades. Even Bercouli was a bit scared when she was unfrozen.

The Quiet One: She rarely says a word to the other knights. Even when giving permission to Linel and Fizel to check on Kirito, she only uses gestures.

Reluctant Psycho: She has an unhealthy urge to cut things to the point where she killed a lot of her opponents in friendly duels, but she doesn't like that side of herself, to the point where she intentionally distances herself from her fellow knights and by her own request, was put into a long sleep.

The Unfought: She was frozen during Kirito and Eugeo's climb up the Central Cathedral, which is fortunate considering her swordplay scares even Bercouli.

Worthy Opponent: She considers the pugilist leader Iskahn an interesting opponent, since he can resist her slashes to some extent. She also compares his dedication to punching to her dedication to slicing.

Renly

Renly (Synthesis Twenty-Seven)

A cowardly Integrity Knight introduced in Volume 16.

Accidental Murder: He accidentally killed his best friend in a tournament duel. As a result, he became afraid of both dying and killing others.

Battle Boomerang: His weapon is the Double-Winged Blades, which act as a pair of thin boomerangs that he can control the trajectory of.

Broken Ace: He's a very skilled fighter, but his trauma over accidentally killing his friend kept him from mastering Perfect Weapon Control, causing him to stagnate as an Integrity Knight and lose all confidence.

Cowardly Lion: He starts off abandoning the Second Regiment and cowering in a tent. When Linel tells him he still has some form of strength and when he sees Kirito still has the will to protect the trainees, Renly fights back against the goblins and slowly regains his confidence. He eventually uses Perfect Weapon Control and Release Recollection to cut down Kosogi, a goblin leader.

Took a Level in Badass: He goes from cowering in front of real combat to taking out the smartest goblin, and later uses his blades to deadly effect by cutting the Dark Territory's rope bridges.

The Unfought: He was frozen by Chudelkin for underperforming as a knight and was unfrozen to be sent to battle against Kirito and Eugeo, but by then, Quinella was already dead.

Fizel Voiced by: Konomi Kohara (Japanese), Michelle Marie (English)

Ambition Is Evil: Their desire to receive recognition led them to stoop to lows of poisoning Kirito and Eugeo so they could kill them in front of the other Integrity Knights. Such dishonorable behavior is not seen in other Integrity Knights.

Back from the Dead: Due to taking part in Quinella's twisted resurrection experiment, the two of them had killed each other multiple times before being revived. They had both devised ways to kill each other as quickly and painlessly as possible, while maximizing the chance of resurrection. They ended up being the only survivors of the experiment and were made Integrity Knights for their trouble.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: They pretended to be innocent sisters-in-training of the Axion Church so that they could get close enough to Eugeo and Kirito to stab them with poisoned daggers. Kirito sees right through the act and manages to counter the poison.

Easily Forgiven: Kirito treats them more like misbehaving children than enemy combatants and calls them "knuckleheads" after the fact in a way that sounds endearing.

Knife Nut: Each of them wield poisonous daggers which they use on Eugeo and Kirito.

Saying Too Much: They mention that all the other nuns and non-Integrity Knights had been ordered to stay in their rooms. Kirito realizes that they aren't out in the hallway because they disobeyed the order, but because it doesn't apply to them.

Token Evil Teammate: The only Integrity Knights who display sadistic tendencies and attempt to use deception.

Token Mini-Moe: By far the youngest Integrity Knights at the meager age of 10.

Took a Level in Kindness: When they're introduced, they're dismissive towards even the higher-ranking Integrity Knights and sees their honor as foolish. After losing to Kirito and witnessing his fight against Fanatio, they become more respectful towards the other knights.

Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Once their true natures are revealed, Fizel and Linel are able to talk very casually and cheerfully about killing, while holding sweet smiles on their faces. This whole demonstration thoroughly disturbs Eugeo.

The Resistance

Cardinal

A mysterious girl who resides in the Great Library Room, who is revealed to be the physical embodiment of the Cardinal System sub-processor residing in a host.

The Ageless: Much like Quinella, Cardinal does not age and is effectively immortal, having retained the same youthful appearance for centuries.

The Anti-Christ: As the Cardinal sub-processor, her reason for existing is to put an end to Quinella the Administrator. It also became her wish to desire to end the Underworld and return it and all of its inhabitants to nothing, so as to let it not be mistreated by Rath.

Arch-Enemy: Of Quinella. Cardinal's current form came into existence for the sole purpose of fighting against Quinella's tyranny. The two of them have battled for centuries with Quinella trying to hunt down and erradicate Cardinal, while Cardinal has been planning and waiting for the chance to strike and take back Quinella's Administrator power.

An Arm and a Leg: One of her feet gets severed during her final confrontation with Quinella.

Badass Adorable: While physically appearing as a child, she was able to put up a fight against Quinella and managing to escape when she realizes she couldn't defeat her.

Big Damn Heroes: She arrives in the brink of time to lay waste to the Sword Golem and to heal Alice and Kirito after they had been fatally wounded.

Big Good: Cardinal is the pivotal force for good in the fight against Quinella, spending centuries observing for those with potential that she could recruit into her crusade.

Broken Bird: Taking refuge in the Grand Library for centuries, Cardinal could not understand how Rath could allow a tyrant to rule the Underworld for so long. She reasons that Rath didn't care about the well-being of the people and would have subjected them to a trial by way of an invasion from Dark Territory. This led her to become a Death Seeker and intended to put an end to the Underworld's existence, herself included.

The Chooser of The One: This time she is the one who chose Kirito and Eugeo, as the ones who would help her to resist Quinella. She had been observing Kirito and Eugeo ever since they left Rulid village and had been guiding them on their journey since.

Cruel and Unusual Death: Quinella doesn't take any chances and just repeatedly blasts Cardinal, charring her body and turning her into a gory mess. The anime gives us the grisly visage of the aftermath. All of this when Cardinal couldn't even fight back due to considering Quinella's Sword Golem as human.

Death Seeker: Cardinal would rather put an end to herself and the Underworld's existence instead of letting it get misused by Rath by way of an Invasion from Dark Territory.

Do Not Call Me "Paul": The girl who Cardinal took over was named Lyserith, and Cardinal hates being referred to by that name.

God in Human Form: Given that the Cardinal System is the closest thing the Underworld has to a GOD, this means Cardinal inhabiting a human vessl also makes it this trope. Though granted, God's Hands Are Tied since Quinella possesses most of the power.

Grand Theft Me: Cardinal's body is actually that of a nun that possessed an abnormally high level of System Authority, and Quinella intended to use her to store all her excess and unimportant memories. However, the sub-process of Cardinal was transferred over when her Fluctlight was being rewritten, giving it full control.

Heroic Sacrifice: She allows Quinella to kill her in order to secure Eugeo, Kirito and Alice's safety, and helps Eugeo fuse with his sword.

In-Series Nickname: Quinella derogatorily refers to her as chibi-sannote translated as "pipsqueak" or "brat".

Little Miss Badass: She is the Cardinal System of UW split off from Quinella, and has all the power to go along with it.

Loop Hole Abuse: As Quinella's other half Cardinal is also bound by Quinella's parents instructions of never taking a human life. But Cardinal no longer sees Quinella as a human, which is what allows her to attack Quinella.

The Mentor: It is she who teaches Kirito and Eugeo how to activate Armament Full Control Art of their Divine Object weapons.

Ms. Exposition: She is the one who told Kirito everything she knew about the Underworld and Quinella.

Power Floats: Much like Quinella, she uses Sacred Arts to hover around.

Really 700 Years Old: Ever since Cardinal took possession of this body, she has been fighting against Quinella for 200 years.

This Is Unforgivable!: What finally pushes Cardinal to this point is when she realizes the Sword Golems are created from humans subjected to matter conversion, specifically the humans that were present in the memory modules stolen from the Integrity Knights during Synthesis. In other words, the loved ones that were stolen from an Integrity Knight's memories were physically used to create the Sword Golems, in order for the memory module to effectively communicate with the Sword Golem.

Thou Shalt Not Kill: She's forbidden from killing "humans" in the Underworld. While Quinella is inhuman enough for Cardinal to be able to kill her, the same does not go for Quinella's Sword Golem, which is made out of people, so Cardinal is helpless.

What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: She observes the world in her library for hundreds of years alone. So when she's done explaining the situation to Kirito, she requests a hug from him so that she can finally experience what it is like to be human.

Charlotte

A spider working for Cardinal and one of her closest friends.

Grow Beyond Their Programming: Kirito is shocked that Charlotte did not have a FluctLight and was the equivalent of an NPC made up of nothing but accumulated input and output data, yet she still grew attached to Cardinal and later Kirito, which ended with her performing a Heroic Sacrifice to save him.

Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrifices herself to buy time, allowing Cardinal to arrive and save Alice and Kirito who had been wounded by the Sword Golem.

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